My husband and I are coming to Australia for a two week holiday and our plan includes renting a camper van and camping/driving along the coast from Melbourne to Sydney. We are overwhelmed with the camping options and are hoping you folks can help us with a few suggestions. We have approximately 6 or 7 nights to make the trip from Melbourne to Sydney and are looking for those "hidden gems" - more outdoorsy and natural (like national/state parks) as opposed to highway side campgrounds with huge water parks and mini golf teeming with families We are a young couple in our early 30's.

The big question here is: when? Even the more out of the way places can get busy in peak season.

My favourites on the NSW Far South coast are:

Mimosa Rocks NP. The best spot is Gillard's Beach: truly on the beach. But I've also camped at Aragunnu and Middle Beach and they were really nice too. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Natio ... x?id=N0021Only drop-toilets, no water provided, but firewood is. Watch out for the cheeky wildlife. The wallabies, possums and goannas make a sport of trying to steal your food. The road in can be a tad hairy too. I had to do it at 25kph and I'm usually quite confident on dirt roads.

There's heaps of National Parks along that coastline. If that's the kind of thing you're after, check the Environments websites. Usually no booking required, though I know some of the busier spots near Melbourne use a ballot for the peak season.

I've been down the Princes Highway route three times but in the reverse direction. To be honest, along the coastal route between Melbourne and the NSW border, I still haven't yet found any towns that are nicer than places further north along the route like Eden, Merimbula, Bermagui, Narooma and Jervis Bay. Lakes Entrance, Marlo, Mallacoota just haven't done it for me - maybe because I'm not a fisherman!

Highly recommend Green Patch near Jervis Bay - 2.5 hours south of Sydney. National Park setting but with hot showers and flush toilets. Check Google for photos of Hyams Beach. Usually voted Australia's second best beach - behind Whitehaven on the Whitsundays.

The other highlight along the route is Merimbula - look for photos of Bar Beach.

Someone mentioned Tilba - that's a quaint little town well worth a stop.

There are hundreds of camp spots along the path you want to take, and different way's to get from Sydney to Melbourne. It would depend on how much you want to rough it, If you want to stay very close to civilisation and by the ocean, I would look into staying at camp sites near these cities and towns. They are very easy to get to and within a few hours apart. But In my opinion, The best spots are just inland from the coast, great ocean views and you get that alone in the bush feeling, even though your 30mins away from the coast.

Here are just a couple of spots that I can rattle off the top of my head that are between Sydney, the Victorian Border.